Sacrilege of Jordanian Penal Code: Reading Rana Husseini

Name of Author : Dr. Anita Sharma & Ritu Sharma

Abstract: The objective of the paper is to explore and analyse the anomalies in law that is being used by men to justify crimes against women in the name of honor. Also, the paper attempts to bring out the tendency on the part of males to use local village councils to justify honor-related violence against women. The textual formalist methodology is used which examines the text and its interpretation on its terms that is independent societal or authorial context of the text. Honor-related crimes are a common feature in many Middle-East and South-Asian countries. The law tends to condone or take a lenient view in case of crimes committed in the name of family or community honor in the Middle-East. The situation is slightly different in the South Asia, where there are laws already in place to deal with honor-related violence but are given scant respect by village councils. Generally, women are at the receiving end of such discriminatory laws, as they are the ones on whom family honor rests. Rana Husseini has delved on various laws in the Jordanian penal code that are discriminatory towards women. The government in power and the legal system of the country continue to move forward by following these discriminatory laws with an aim to cling on to their position of authority. In Jordan, the Article 340, Article 97 & Article 98 of the penal code stipulated for reduced punishment for resorting to violence against women if this was linked to honor of the male members of the family. Many women and human right activists have raised their voice against such discriminatory laws whereas men have continued to favor them calling them part of their ancient sociocultural practices. The State and the legal system have all along turned a blind eye to the plight of women who are forced to languish in Correctional and Rehabilitation Centres for most part of their life. No legal remedies are available to these battered women. Husseini alongwith other activists has launched a signature campaign in Jordan to abrogate/ amend various laws that are against the basis tenets of right to life. Their struggle has raised an awareness among women not only in Jordan but other parts of the world too.

Keywords : Discriminatory, Sociocultural, Honor, Human Rights, Right to Life, Awareness

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